Cole watches with sleepy eyes as the soft breeze coming through the window ruffles the curtains. Suddenly a gust of wind sends some of the papers resting on Phoebe's drawer to the floor and, without thinking, he waves his hand towards the swirling papers. They don't freeze -- for obvious reasons -- and he glances towards Phoebe, feeling utterly embarrassed: much to his relief, she's sound asleep and unaware of his lapse.

He chuckles slightly, and moves closer to her, passing his arm around her waist.

"You're some tough girl," he whispers.

Bearing those premonitions, during all those years, not only seeing those horrible things happen, but for a moment actually living them, and knowing that you alone don't have the power to prevent them... I wonder if your family knows what a burden it can be; I know I didn't. Not until today.

He gently fondles her hair, and Phoebe smiles in her sleep and cuddles with him. Then his eyes fall on the sheets of paper scattered on the floor, and his thoughts are drawn once again to the events of this evening, and to the other power he had to learn how to use. Sure, at least freezing is an active power, but it doesn't actually solve things: it only buys you time to figure out what to do. Or -- more likely -- to have someone else take one step forward and save the day.

When you think about it, it's no wonder Piper used to be so insecure. The girl spent her first years as a witch with a power that said "step aside and let someone more qualified take care of this". Not that it's an easy job: who would have thought that the darn thing had so many twists and bends? I could barely choose between freezing the entire room and one single target; Piper, on the other hand... I once saw her freeze only the innocents in a courtroom, leaving the evil doers untouched. Still, I doubt she'd give up the power to explode, now that she's mastered it. As for me, being the support team and letting someone else be in charge of the action is definitely not my style. Although I must admit that Leo did a pretty good job down there... Sure he needed some time to adjust but -- what the hell -- it took me years to fire a decent energy ball. Not that I'm ever gonna tell him this.

Cole smiles as he cuddles tighter with Phoebe and closes his eyes, feeling the steady rhythm of her breathing until he, too, falls asleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Piper is lying on her back, trying to decide whether she's thirsty enough to go downstairs to have a glass of water.

"Now, if only I could shimmer to the kitchen..." she thinks. "Just kidding!" she quickly adds, just in case someone is listening.

No shimmering for this witch, no sir, thank you very much. Let Cole do the shimmering, since he seems to be so fond of it.

Piper giggles as she remembers Cole's awkward attempts to control her freezing power.

That'll teach him. Still, I must admit he surprised me today: never thought he would be able to swallow his pride and give up his place at the front line. And following Leo to the warlock's lair, placing his life in someone else's hands... It must have cost him a lot. He did better than I'd have expected. Hum! Maybe I should tell him this. Oh, well, or maybe I'll just make him pancakes tomorrow morning.

I never thought I'd be so glad to get my powers back. Even my power to explode. Oh, God, the look on Paige's face when she exploded those cups!... That was priceless. I don't think she'll ever complain about not having a fighting power again. Much to her credit, she managed to get a grip on it much faster than I did. She's quite a witch, that baby sister of mine. She just doesn't know it yet.

She senses Leo's stare and turns her head to look at him, who's lying on his side and smiling at her.

"Having trouble sleeping?" he asks.

"I guess," she says, smiling back at him. "It was such an intense evening, I think I still have too much adrenaline in my system." -- she reaches out and touches his chest with feather-soft fingers -- "Care to help me spend it?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Paige orbs back to her room carrying a glass of milk and a plate with some cookies.

"When you're up to a midnight snack, there's nothing like being half Whitelighter," she thinks as she sits on her bed, with her legs crossed, placing the plate on the nightstand.

Mental note: never complain about my powers again. That radar thing was cool, but it was giving me a headache. And God I hope I'll never have to explode anything in my life again! Thanks God for Piper.

It was so weird to see other people using my powers. Piper healing, and David orbing... well, seeing David using any powers would have been weird. Not as much as it was for him, I'm sure. I still can't believe he still wants to see me, after all this mess. He's one of a kind. And human on top of everything, thanks God for that! After all, the Whitelighter is already taken, and another repented demon... let's face it, what are the odds?

Leo was no surprise, of course. I mean, my telekinesis is the orbing kind, it was just fair that he got a grip on it fast. He even found out some interesting new features: orbing people around, who would have thought of that? I should try it one of these days... not with Cole, of course.

Paige giggles as she puts the empty glass next to the plate. She lies back on the bed and pulls the covers up to her chin, as the breeze blowing through the window becomes cooler.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Phoebe's eyes flick open and she wakes up with a shiver. She turns around and looks at Cole: once again, he has rolled to the other side of the bed, taking all the covers with him. Her covers. Luckily, she knows how to handle this: she moves closer to him and cuddles with him and, even in his sleep, he responds immediately by turning around to hold her, thus allowing her to slide under the covers with him.

Now that's more like it. You don't really need all the covers, do you? Yet, I know this was some tough evening for you. My poor baby, enduring those premonitions...

I'm glad you and Leo had to do some compulsory bonding in order to survive. I really wish you guys can grow closer to each other: it'll be good for you, to have a friend. I doubt demons have friends. And I couldn't think of anyone better than Leo, despite all the differences between the two of you. Besides, I think Leo, too, could use some male company in this house ruled by women. Until today, I had never really realized how draining being a Whitelighter could be. Sure, those powers triggered by love are very good, but they come with a price. Love comes with a price. You care, and you worry, and you feel responsible for those you love. Being a guardian angel takes more than one would have imagined.

Phoebe yawns and moves to a more comfortable position, feeling warm and safe in Cole's arms, sighing happily as she starts to feel pleasantly dozy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Leo changes position very carefully, just enough to look at Piper, whose head is resting on his chest. Watching her sleep, he is overwhelmed by the love he feels for her, the woman for whom he broke all the rules. And who so gracefully handled his power today, he adds to himself with a smile. He's proud to see how naturally she and Phoebe embraced the healing powers.

Then he remembers the sight of them chained to the wall of that awful cave, and he shudders slightly.

I still can't believe I took part on that slaughter... only for you would I do something like that, love. And I hope I'll never have to go thru anything like that again. God, all the anger necessary to trigger that power!... One can only imagine what it must be like dealing with it every day, raising the anger, letting it run through you in fiery red waves. And then, after it's done, you have to hold all that rage back again... until next time. It's like going through life riding a dragon: it may sound exciting when you talk about it, but the truth is you can never release your grip on the rein, at the risk of being consumed by the flame that burns inside you.

Leo runs his hands through Piper's hair, pensively. He's staring at the ceiling, but right now his mind is directed to a place way above the attic.

Cole has been doing that for... what? almost one year now. I should talk to the Elders about him. They never gave me much directions concerning Cole's situation, and so far I've been glad to leave the subject alone, but i guess it's time we stop pretending there's nothing going on here. The guy is struggling to stand on our side and, for what I've seen today, he could use some help.

Leo closes his eyes, feeling spent by the events of the evening.

"Tomorrow," he thinks, "I'm gonna start some research of my own."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

David turns off the water and steps out off the shower box. When he left the manor, all he could think was getting into bed and sleeping like ten hours in a row. But when he got home he was still so agitated that it took forty minutes of working out and a shower to get him ready to go to bed. He runs his hand through his thick brown hair, and stands in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at his own image. "What a night," he thinks, reaching out for the towel and starting to rub himself dry.

Witches, demons, angels, warlock, monsters, wolves... And something tells me that I haven't seen the half of it yet. And the craziest thing is, I still wanna stick around. Even if it means facing a warlock or two every now and then. Man, I must be crazy. Even worse: I must be falling.

He puts on his boxers and walks to the bed, the events of the evening finally starting to weight on him.

"I'm afraid it's gonna take more than this to scare me away, Paige Matthews," he thinks, as he gets into bed, "I can't just let you slip away like this: you're one of a kind."

The End
(Next installment: "Roll the Dice, Run For Your Life")